1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an editing apparatus and an editing method adapted illustratively to an editing system for editing contents stored on phase change type optical disks. More particularly, the invention relates to an editing apparatus and an editing method constituting a simply structured time-saving editing setup whereby two video signals are merged into a combined video signal only for transition periods required of the merged before the combined video signal is written to an optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, video and audio signals are merged and afforded special effects as needed when edited. Such special effects are carried out primarily by one of two techniques. By one technique, two video signals are merged so that cuts from the first and the second video signal will be combined, as in the case of what is known as xe2x80x9cwipe.xe2x80x9d By another technique, xe2x80x9cfade-inxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cfade-outxe2x80x9d are combined so that cuts from the first and the second video signal will be merged.
The merging of two target video signals proceeds conventionally as follows: two video tape recorders are used to reproduce the two video signals. During the reproduction, the two video signals are merged in keeping with the mode of transitions such as wipe. The resulting video signal thus combined is recorded by a third video tape recorder.
If there is available a video tape recorder having a pre-read head, cuts to be merged are recorded in advance on a magnetic tape. That tape is set on the pre-read head-equipped video tape recorder and played back. The video signal reproduced by the pre-read head is merged with a video signal from another video tape recorder. The resulting signal thus combined is recorded by the latter video tape recorder using its post-write head.
Whenever two video signals are merged conventionally for special effects during a video signal editing process, at least two video tape recorders are needed, one being equipped with the pre-read head. Such a conventional editing setup tends to leave the whole system configuration complicated.
In any case, the video signal reproduced by one video tape recorder must be recorded again by another video tape recorder. This means that completing a desired program takes as long as the real time required to run the entire program (i.e., complete package). Thus the editing procedure can be a time-consuming process.
Where a plurality of cuts are merged on a time series basis in conjunction with special effects (i.e., so-called multi-effect editing), it is difficult to preview the whole program; the individual cuts must be combined with the corresponding special effects and verified. In such a case, it takes more time than ever to perform the necessary editing.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the above and other deficiencies and disadvantages of the conventional art and to provide an editing apparatus and an editing method constituting a simply structured time-saving editing environment.
In carrying out the invention and according to one aspect thereof, there are provided an editing apparatus and an editing method whereby a first and a second video signal reproduced from an optical disk are merged to generate a combined video signal for a transition from the first video signal to the second video signal in accordance with a predetermined transition period and a predetermined transition mode, the combined video signal being recorded to the optical disk only with respect to the transition period.
The invention is characterized in that the combined video signal for a transition from the first to the second video signal is generated in accordance with a predetermined transition period and a predetermined transition mode, and that the combined video signal is recorded to the optical disk only with respect to the transition period. Under that scheme, the first video signal, the combined video signal and the second video signal are reproduced successively from the optical disk for editing work where the combined video signal corresponding to the transition period has been simply recorded on the optical disk. That is, video signals are edited by a simplified setup comprising video signal reproducing means for reproducing the first video signal, the second video signal and the combined video signal; video signal merging means for merging video signals; and video signal recording means for recording the combined video signal to the optical disk. Editing of video signals takes only as long as the time required to record the combined video signal to the optical disk.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following description and appended drawings.